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It was with great pleasure that I was informed by the Danish Cricket Federation that I had been invited to attend the MCC YC’s scheme for a two week period. I have plenty of ambitions to become a professional cricketer and believe that the experience of joining the Young Cricketers at Lord’s Cricket Ground could only assist me in reaching my goal. I was invited to attend from the 8th August through to the 19th August.

On the morning of Monday 8th I was picked up at Heathrow by Philip Hudson from the ICC Europe Office. He drove me and Lakmal Kasturiarachige, an Austrian cricketer who was staying for the same duration as me, directly to a beautiful cricket ground called Wormsley where we were to play our first game for the YC’s against Berkshire U25’s in a 50 over match.

We won the toss and decided to bat on what looked like a good batting pitch. After 50 overs we had scored 254 for 7. I was asked to open the batting and ended up as top score with 70 even after my early morning flight. We then bowled Berkshire out for 130 and Lakmal who was named “Lucky” for the duration of the trip, captured 4 for 35 with his leg-spin bowling. This was a great way to start our adventure and also a good advertisement for European cricket. At the end of the game we were both included in the squad to play in the Second XI Championship game against Essex. The three-day game was due to be played at Billericay CC in Essex.

We lost the toss against Essex and were put into bat. I was again asked to open the batting and I had one of my better days at the crease although I was disappointed not to reach three figures. I scored 73 out of our total of 395 for 5 declared. We were quite pleased with our total because of the strength of the opposition we played against. Essex fielded 7 players with First Class experience including Will Jefferson, Ravinder Bopara, Mark Pettini, Graham Napier, Tim Phillips, Ryan ten Doeschate (Holland) and Tony Palladino.

It was now our time to field and 110 overs later we were walking off the field with Essex finally declaring. They had scored 660 with Will Jefferson still in on 303 not out! Jefferson’s score set a new record as the highest score scored by an Essex player in the Second XI Championship. Their plan was to bowl us out in the second innings in just under a day, but we only lost 4 wickets and drew the match fairly comfortably. I managed to score 20 runs in the second innings which was a slight disappointment after my score in the first innings. “Lucky” managed to get 5 for 200 of 43 overs when we bowled. Lakmal is used to bowling 10 overs at a time so this was a great effort although he was slightly disappointed to go for so many runs. Lakmal’s wickets included 5 of the players with First Class experience which was great to see.

After the Essex game we had a few days off. “Lucky” and I went to see some of central London and enjoyed experiencing the sites. Our next game was against Northants 2nd XI. I was asked to do 12th man duties as 4 of the MCC YC’s contracted players returned to the team. On the second morning I was told to report back to Lord’s as I was needed to act as 12th man for Middlesex 1st XI against Sussex. Even though they lost inside 2 days I enjoyed the experience very much. It was great to share the changing room with England players such as Owais Shah and to see how they prepare. The game only lasted two days as Sussex came out easy winners but it was wonderful to get the opportunity to come out onto the field at Lords with a decent crowd present. It was well worth all the running up and down the stairs when the wickets fell!

I truly enjoyed the 2 weeks I spent with the MCC YC’s, and I can certainly recommend a similar stay to anyone who enjoys cricket and wants to be tested at a really high level. I have no doubt that my game will have improved due to the experience and this can only be good for my future plans and also for the future of Danish Cricket.